Slashed welting for shoes



Sept. 24, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 16, 1956 shim.

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Sept. 24, 1957 K. A. STRITTER 2,307,103

SLASHED WELTING FOR SHOES Filed Feb. 16, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 2,807,103 SLASHED WELTING FOR snons Karl A. Stritter, deceased, late of Nahant, Mass., by Kate F. Stritter, Nahant, and Essex Trust Company, Lynn, Mass., executors, assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 16, 1956, Serial No. 565,986.

4 Claims. (Cl. 3678) In applying welting to a shoe, it has to be bent in 7 its own plane in one dlirection in rounding the toe and in the opposite direction in the shank, particularly the inside shank.

When usual welting is fastened to an upper on a last it tends, particularly around the toe, the bend toward the upper away from a plane parallel to the shoe bottom, a condition known as strapping, and it is only by forcibly stretching the outer portion of the welt, as for example by an extra welt beating operation, that the welt is made to lie in a plane parallel to the shoe. bottom. At the toe and around the heel portion of Goodyear welt shoes this strapping condition is present to a marked degree because the inner margin of the welt is contracted and held firmly in this position by the inseam.

Providing straight, transverse slashes in the inner margin of the welting, as has been practiced heretofore, does not provide an adequate solution for this condition, for the reason that in bending the Welting during the inseaming operation, the slashes separate when the welting is bent inwardly, that is, toward the shoe, while sewing it to the shank portion of the shoe, thus weakening the inseam; and when the welting is bent outwardly during its attachment around the toe, the abutting portions of the slashed welting tend to press against one another and bend out of their plane, thereby impairing the desirable uniformly flat condition of the welt. Moreover, because of the absence of slashes in the outer margin of the welting, that portion of the'welting is incapable of absorbing the effects of the bending of the inner marginal portion, and this fact contributes in a substantial measure to the deformation of the welting out of its plane and the wavy appearance of the Welt after its attachment to a shoe.

An object of this invention is to provide welting prepared in a manner such as to render it capable of-being bent in its own plane during its attachment to a shoe, thereby reducing the strapping of the welting to a minimum, increasing the flexibility of the welt hinge, and providing a snugger and tighter inseam.

With this object in view, the invention comprises providing in each marginal portion of the welting, slashes extending diagonally to the plane of the welting, from its outer side with respect to the shoe to which it is attached, that is, in a leather welt, from the unfinished or flesh side, the slashes on its outer margin stopping short of its inner face, that is, the face next to the shoe. The intermediate portion of the welting is left intact and, being relatively narrow, is readily bendable in its own plane. The slashes on the inner, or stitch-receiving margin of the welting may extend part Way through the ice 2. thickness of the welting or all the way through, since this margin of the welting is invisible in the completed shoe.

In accordance with an important feature of the invention, the slashes formed in the opposite margins of the welting extend in opposite angular directions from the flesh or tread side of the welting, thereby preventing separation of the slashed portions as the welting is twisted spirally, as it usually is, before passing into the welt guide of the inseaming machine.

Welting prepared in this manner is capable of progressively adjusting itself to the required lengths during the inseaming operation, and the shoe comes from the inseamer with a welt having a minimum of strapping or distortion and requiring no beating or subsequent slashing. For the best results this welt should be attachedto the'lasted upper in the condition in which it is delivered from the welting factory, without further couditioning.

In addition to increasing the general flexibility of the Welting, slashing of both margins of the welting reduces resistance of the welting at the seam line, so that it can be drawn tightly in place by the inseamer, thereby avoiding grinning of the seam. The inner slashes also contribute to increased flexibility of the hinge between the welt and the shoe. This flexibility is important to the operator of the inseam trimmer because a resistant welt hinge will prevent him from trimming to a uniform depth and is frequently the cause of nicking of the seam. The more snugly placed inseam, due to the slashes, lies in a more protected position which prevents it from being cut by the awl of the outsole stitching machine. The cutting of the stitches by the awl of the outsole stitching machine and the nicking of the inseam by the inseam trimming operator are the two most frequent injuries to the inseam occurring in the manufacture of Goodyear Welt shoes.

The welting of the present invention not only makes the shoe more flexible because of the reduced resistance to bending of the welt hinge but, because the welt conforms readily to the line of the inseam, distortion of the rib by the greater strain required to conform the conventional welting to the curves of the rib is avoided. As a result, a smaller needle and awl and a lighter thread may be used as well as a precut sheet bottom filler. Of course the conformability of the welting may be controlled by the length, depth, shape and spacing of the slashes and, with uniformity of such slashing, uniformity of resistance to bending may be obtained, which is an important consideration, especially in connection with automatic machines the success of which depends in a large measure on uniformity of material.

The above considerations relate more particularly to the use of the present invention in connection with the manufacture of Goodyear welt shoes, but it should be understood that the utility of the invention is not limited to the manufacture of shoes of that type, but may embrace the manufacture of any welt shoe, whether McKay welt, Silhouwelt, prewelt or stitchdown. It is also to be understood that the present invention is not limited to any particular type of welting material. For example, the plastic welting now coming into use offers about the same resistance in conforming it to the outline of the shoe bottom as leather welting and may be slashed on both margins to render it readily conformable.

Any of the welting herein disclosed may be coated with sizing to prevent the portions between the slashes from separating except as desired during the inseaming and thus obviate any difficulty in the passage of the welt through the usual welt guide of the inseaming machine.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a piece of leather welting having both marginal portions diagonally slashed, the

slashes on its inner margin extending all the way through and those on its outer margin part way through, leaving the grain face of that margin intact;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the welting shown in Fig. l, slashed on both margins, the slashes on both margins stopping short of the grain side;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a welting having a groove and a beveled corner for use in making Goodyear welt shoes, the welt being slashed as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows the welting of Fig. 3 slashed as shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a piece of welting slashed part way through on its outer margin, its inner margin being diagonally slashed all the way through, alternate tongues formed by the slashes being removed;

Fig. 6 is a detail view of a piece of welting with a slashed portion turned back to show sizing applied to the slashed margins of the welting;

Fig. 7 is a view illustrating the welting of Figs. 3 and 4 turned end for end and showing the arrangement of the slashes on the margin opposite the one visible in Figs.

'3 and 4;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing the welt handling instrumentalities of a welt sewing machine; and

Fig. 9 is a detail view illustrating the condition of a welting that has been improperly slashed when it is twisted prior to entering the welt guide of the welt sewing machine.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a piece of leather welting 10, such as is used on McKay welt shoes, the welting having an inner margin 12, an outer margin 14 and an intermediate portion 16. (The terms inner and outer are used herein with reference to the relation of the welt to a shoe to which it is to be attached.) In the inner margin 10 are formed slashes 18 which extend diagonally to the plane of the welting completely through the thickness of the welting from the edge face 29 on the flesh side to the grain side 22. The outer margin 14 has similar slashes 24 extending from the edge face 26 on the flesh side inwardly toward, but not through, the grain of the leather, to leave the exposed surface 22 of the welting intact.

In Fig. 2, which shows the welting of Fig. 1, the slashes 18 and 24 formed in the marginal portions 12 and 14 extend through part only of the thickness of the welting, the grain face 22 of the welting being intact. The slashed portions, however, are able to expand or contract when the welting is bent in its own plane as it is during its attachment to a shoe.

Fig. 3 shows a piece of welting 23 prepared for use in making Goodyear welt shoes. The inner margin 30 of the welting on the grain side which lies next to the upper on the feather of the insole is beveled, as shown at 32, and is provided on its flesh side with a groove 34 to receive the inseam stitches. In the grooved margin of this welting are formed slashes 36 which extend diagonally to the plane of the welting from the edge face 38 through the entire thickness of the welting as in Fig. 1, and in the outer margin 44 are formed slashes 42 extending diagonally to the plane of the welting from the edge face 44 toward, but not through, the grain face 46, which is left intact. In Fig. 4, which shows the same welting, the slashes 36 and 42 in both margins extend only part way through the thickness of the welting. The slashes 36 formed in the margin 3% extend through and across the opposite faces of the groove 34 but do not intersect the bottom of the groove.

Fig. 5 represents a piece of welting 48, the inner margin 50 of which has been slashed in the manner disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 674,831, granted May 21, 1901, in the name of W. E. Arnold, in which alternate tongues formed by diagonal slashes are removed, leaving spaces 52. The outer margin 54 of this welting is diagonally slashed at 56, as in Fig. 1, part way through the thickness of the welting from the flesh side. When the inner margin of this welting is bent about the toe in attaching it to a McKay shoe, it will not add to the thickness of the materials at the toe where there is usually extra thickness, due to the toe box and the gathering of the lasted upper. This form of slashing also imparts greater flexibility to the welt hinge.

By reason of the diagonal slashes formed in the opposite margins of a piece of welting in the manner described, the marginal portions of the welt are rendered capable of extension and contraction in their own plane, when bent, during the attachment of the welt to a shoe, without substantially diminishing or increasing the thickness of the welting along either margin, thereby eliminating or reducing to a minimum the strapping previously mentioned and also eliminating the subsequent welt beating and slashing required by welting which has not been preslashed at all or which has been slashed along one margin only.

Preferably, and as illustrated herein, the slashes in the opposite margins of the welting extend, with relation to the flesh or tread side of the welting, in opposite angular directions from their respective edge faces inwardly toward the intermediate, unslashed portion of the welting. The importance of forming the slashes in this manner is illustrated schematically in Fig. 8, where a piece of welting 28, of the type illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, is shown supported on a roll 58 of a welt sewing machine and fed through a guide 60 toward the sewing point, where it is secured by a needle 62 to the upper and insole of a shoe 64. Prior to passing into the welt guide, the welt is usually twisted spirally from left to right. If the slashes on the opposite margins are formed in the manner described, they are maintained closed as the welting is so twisted, enabling the welting to pass freely through the welt guide. If they are not formed in the manner explained, the slashes will open when the welt is twisted, as illustrated in Fig. 9, and impede the free passage of the welt through the guide.

No known plastic, when made into conventional welting and applied to a shoe, will expand along its outer margin and contract along its inner margin so as to lie parallel to the shoe bottom without strapping. In fact, plastic welting, as used commercially today, offers at least the same resistance to bending as leather welting. To overcome this condition, plastic welting may be slashed in the same manner as the leather welting illustrated in the drawings, either as in Fig. 2 where the slashes in neither margin extend entirely through the welting, the exposed or upper side of the welting being intact, or as in Fig. 1, where the slashes in the outer margin extend only part way through from what is the lower face when the shoe is right side up, and the slashes in the inner margin extend through the entire thickness of the welting.

To maintain the contiguous portions of the slashes margins of the welting bonded together and prevent them from separating when the welting is not being used, while permitting relative movement between them as the welt is bent in its own plane during the inseaming, the margins of the welting may conveniently be coated with a sizing, as indicated at 66 in Fig. 6.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed as new and what it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a welting for shoes, said welting having both its marginal portions slashed diagonally to render them extensible and compressible in the plane of the welting without substantially varying the thickness of the welting, the slashes in the opposite margins extending in opposite directions from the respective edge faces toward the intermediate, unslashed portion of the welting, to maintain the slashes in closed condition during the feed of the welt into the welt guide of an inseaming machine.

2. As an article of manufacture, a leather welting for shoes, said welting having in its opposite marginal portions diagonal slashes extending in opposite directions from the respective edge faces toward the intermediate, unslashed portion of the welting, to render said slashed margins capable of extension and contraction in their own plane without substantially diminishing or increasing the thickness of the welting, the slashes in both marginal portions extending part way only through the thickness of the welting from the flesh side thereof.

3. As an article of manufacture, a welting for shoes, said welting having in one of its margins slashes extending diagonally to the plane of the welting through the entire thickness thereof, and having in its opposite margin slashes extending diagonally through a part only of its thickness, leaving one surface of the welting intact.

4. As an article of manufacture, a welting for shoes, said welting having one of its margins provided with a sewing groove on one of its faces and a bevel on the adjacent corner of its opposite face, said welting having along its opposite margins slashes extending diagonally to the plane of the welting from one face thereof toward but not through the opposite face, the slashes in the grooved and beveled margin of the welting extending across and through the opposing faces of the groove without intersecting the bottom of said groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 816,601 Rollins Apr. 3, 1906 1,293,136 Lyon Feb. 4, 19:19 1,695,970 Lyon Dec. 18, 1928 1,872,220 Barbour Aug. 16, 1932 2,103,331 Mathews Dec. 28, 1937 

